More than 1,000 store managers gathered in Dallas this week for an annual staff meeting, and a top priority was outlining a strategy for turning those scores around.

The meeting comes at the beginning of CEO Marvin Ellison’s second year of a three-year turnaround designed to make Penney profitable again after an unsuccessful attempt to reinvent the store by former CEO Ron Johnson.

While store managers got some sympathy from Penney executives, what kept them breaking out into applause was the simple solutions put forth by management.

“We want you to stop doing things that don’t focus on the customer,” said Joe McFarland, executive vice president over J.C. Penney’s stores.

New rules, uniform performance measures, a live chat and weekly playbooks for stores all start next Monday.